Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are Star and Barb!

Since the premier of Saturday Night Live in 1975, the influence of sketch comedy on American feature films has been a mixed bag, at best. Though some SNL grads have had successful film careers, Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy especially, most attempts to convey the punchy hilarity of sketch comedians in feature films have been poor or disastrous. Indeed, some of the worst movies of the last fifty years have been attempts to build a feature film around SNL skits: A Night at the Roxbury, Stuart Saves His Family, The Coneheads, It's Pat. What crud! The main reason is fairly obvious, it is hard to sustain for 87 minutes what is hilarious for five or ten. 

That's why I was pleasantly surprised at the modest hilarity provided by Barb and Starr Go to Vista Del Mar. Written by its two co-stars, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, it tells the tale of two middle-aged single females from Soft Rock, Nebraska cutting loose on a vacation in Florida. I guffawed and tittered more than laughed out loud, but Barb and Star won me over with its goofiness and good nature. Wiig and Mumolo have created a nice portrait of two female friends who finish each others' sentences and have a shared passion for culottes and hot dog soup. The interchanges between the two, reminiscent of the duo's sketch comedy roots, are the best thing in the film. 

Some of the elements of Barb and Star..., particularly the cartoon villainy, seems like padding. However, director Josh Greenbaum handles the musical numbers with aplomb and paces individual sequences well. There is also a nice color contrast between the avocado, beige and brown of Nebraska and the vivid teals, aquamarines, banana yellows and pinks of Florida. Vanessa Bayer, Richard Cheese, Andy Garcia and Fortune Feimster all chip in merrily. Jamie Dornan exorcises the ghost of Christian Gray in a charming performance as Barb and Star's object of desire, but rest assured interested ladies and gents, he does rip his shirt off. Only the talents of Damon Wayans Jr. are ill-used.

Certainly not a cinematic milestone, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is pleasant piffle. Fans of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion should check it out.